Luster
by mystical pine forest
Summary: Or, Caesar's Palace fic exchange. Enjoy, Riley!


**Written for the Caesar's Palace back to school fic exchange! For Riley! Enjoy :)**

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TOURMALINE

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The color of the Escort's dress, and hair, and eyes, and shoes. It contrasts against her dark skin, like Rue's own, and she thinks it is pretty- for just a moment.

Just a moment, because then the Escort calls her name.

 _Her_ name. Rue Seffra. She is a tribute.

Rue puts on her best brave face and clenches her fists. She hears Poppy and Wren and Momma in the distance. She blocks them out as best she can.

Wet tears slide down her cheeks, but Rue doesn't sob, not like that silly sixteen-year-old girl- Peppa?- last year, who cried at the Reaping and got a two in training and botched her interview and was the first death.

She stiffly mounts the steps to the stage and the pink escort pulls her over to the microphone.

Her pink nails are sharp and intricately done, her hair curled to perfection and her dress a light pink that stands out in the dreary dark gray skies of Eleven.

Rue hates the pink. She wants to go home and eat her tesserae bread and feed her cat and rock Yarrow. She doesn't want to board a train to the Capitol, where all the world is pink and green and blue and yellow and where she will die.

But she's always been a good little girl and so she follows the rules and she does.

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SAPPHIRE

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The color of Momma's blouse. Her blue blouse that Rue was going to wear once she filled out and that once belonged to her Grandma Saige. Momma crushes Rue in a hug and doesn't let go. Wren and Poppy cry in the background and baby Yarrow wails in Daddy's arms.

Rue wiggles out of Momma's arms. She shakily walks to her sisters' side and hugs each in turn. She turns to Wren, the older of the two, and whispers in her ear.

"I need you to take care of Yarrow and Poppy. Don't let Daddy do anything stupid. Keep Momma sane."

Wren nods solemnly.

Rue looks at seven-year-old Poppy and her heart melts.

"Don't take any tesserae. You can live without the extra grain, especially when there's only five of you."

Poppy fumbles with her pockets and pulls out a necklace, made of twine and grass from the fields. On the end of the loop of string hangs a wooden flower. She thrusts it out to Rue, who takes it and hangs it immediately around her skinny neck.

"Thank you, Poppy. This will be my token."

The Peacekeeper who escorted Rue off the stage into the goodbye room walks back in. "Your time's up. Let's go."

Momma screams and clutches onto Daddy, who holds the wailing baby and starts to weep. The two younger girls hug Rue one last time and lead the grim parade out of the visiting room.

Only then do tears fall yet again on Rue's faded gray skirt and dissolve into the homespun fabric.

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AMBER

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The color of Finch's eyes. Rue really only notices her because of her eyes; so similar to the eyes of her little sister.

Poppy and Finch's similarities don't stop there, though. Through some quiet shadowing (Rue refuses to call it "stalking"), she learned many things about the sly girl from Five. She has a sister, too. She was born to a young woman who couldn't afford to take care of her children and sent them to the local orphan home. She is- was- virtually her sister's caretaker.

Rue doesn't want to ally with Finch, simply because she seems like the kind of girl who would betray an ally to keep alive. Rue would much rather find someone trustworthy, who she knows wouldn't kill her just because she was slowing them down or draining their food supply.

But the way Finch carries herself and the way that she thinks before acting- they all remind Rue of Poppy. And it's a hard choice to let Finch slink away into the back of her mind, not to be brought out again.

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EMERALD

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The color of the trees in the Arena. Rue is eternally grateful that the Arena this year had trees. She was lucky.

The girl from Twelve, the one with impeccable bow skills, stands two pedestals to the left of Rue. Thresh, Rue's partner, is four pedestals in the other direction.

The countdown in the center of the tall metal horn disappears and a gong sounds. Rue leaps off her pedestal and sprints toward the Cornucopia. She sweeps up a bag and knife, then spins on her heel and runs into the forest.

Screams start to sound from the clearing, and Rue covers her ears. She just wants to go home, but of course she cannot escape the Arena until she is placed into a long, flimsy coffin and shipped to her grieving family.

She doesn't stop running until she knows she is far away, miles even, from the Cornucopia. Then she sits on a rock and opens her bag.

A half-full water canteen. A small knife. A strip of beef jerky in a bag. An apple. And a pair of socks.

She has food and she has water. And for now, that's all that matters.

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GARNET

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The color of blood. Blood that seeps from the gaping spear wound in Rue's stomach and trickles down her shirt and stains her skin scarlet. It reminds Rue of the plum juice that would spurt from the fruits sometimes as she plucked them from the branches.

Katniss crouches by Rue, placing Rue's head in her lap and stroking her dark hair. A tear falls from Katniss' cheek and lands on Rue's forehead.

"Did you blow up the food?" Rue asks. The searing pain in her stomach grows with each word, but Rue doesn't care. She's gone through worse.

"Every last bit."

Rue smiles. "You have to win."

Katniss nods. "I'm going to. Going to win for the both of us now."

A cannon fires, startling Rue. Katniss looks up.

"Don't go," Rue chokes through the pain, grabbing her ally's hand.

"Course not. Staying right here."

The world is fading now, growing quieter and softer. Rue, with her last bit of strength, whispers one last word. "Sing."

Katniss looks taken off guard, but nods. As the music floats through the air and the mockingjays mimic the notes, Rue's world turns a bright pearly white. The last thing Rue hears is the final sentence of Katniss' song.

"Here is the place where _I love you._ "

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 **prompt: Gemstone/Rock Collection / character: Rue**


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